The political agreement of the ministers paves the way for the implementation of the measure by the opening of the markets on Monday, he indicated to the press, estimating that "more than half of the reserves" of the institution, placed in banks of G7 countries would be paralyzed.

The members of the G7 and the EU had agreed on Saturday to block the operations of the Russian Central Bank on their soil, which amounts to drastically restricting its ability to convert its foreign exchange reserves (foreign currencies, sovereign bonds denominated in Western currencies...).

The objective is to prevent Moscow from using it to finance the conflict in Ukraine and counter the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy.

The Central Bank's reserves, which notably include assets in dollars, euros and yuan, but also gold reserves, amount to around 460 billion dollars according to the financial agency Bloomberg.

After this political green light from European ministers, the proposal must "be formally adopted by a written procedure to which the Member States will have to respond by 4 a.m., in order to prevent the Central Bank, when it reopens on Monday, from access its localized reserves on markets in the EU, the United Kingdom and the United States," a European source told AFP.

"We cannot block the reserves of the Central Bank located in Moscow or in China. Over the past year, Russia (...) has prepared for the current situation by reducing its reserves in dollars" to increase those in yuan, rubles and gold, Borrell said.

On the other hand, the Ministers of the Twenty-Seven have not yet reached an agreement to exclude Russian financial establishments from the international Swift interbank messaging system, an essential cog in the wheel of global finance which ensures the transit of payment orders and transfers of funds between banks.

The European Commission had indicated on Saturday that it would propose to member states to block the access of “a certain number of banks” to Swift, but states are worried about the impact of the measure.

"It has been discussed, but for the moment there is not the necessary consensus. We will continue to work on it (...) including at the international level, because such a measure supposes the coordination of several countries", observed Joseph Borrell.

According to a European source, the Commission is still in discussions with London and Washington to identify the Russian banks that would be targeted, and proposals should be finalized on Monday.

According to the site of the Russian national association Rosswift, Russia would be the second country after the United States in number of users with some 300 Russian banks and institutions members of the system.

More than half of Russian credit organizations are represented in Swift.

Swift is a company incorporated under Belgian law, only subject to the sanctions adopted by the EU.

In 2012, it had excluded from its system several Iranian banks following a decision of the Twenty-Seven.

© 2022 AFP